“One rake would certainly know another,” Sophie retorted, distaste clear in her tone. “However, as it happens, Braddon showed little interest in seducing me before I was married, and I am quite certain that his interest is now nil.”

“Braddon is a loose screw,” Patrick said, thrusting his hand through his hair in frustration. “I cannot like his stringing you along, for God only knows what purpose. What I mean is, I know his purpose! Pretty strong, fishing in his best friend’s pond!”

“That is an indescribably vulgar thing to say,” Sophie replied icily. “But since we are lowering ourselves, let me point out that you are the one who originally fished in Braddon’s pond!”

“Why shouldn’t I wonder what your business with Braddon is?” Patrick shouted back, his temper out of control now. “He may not have wanted to kiss you, but the same can’t be said of you, can it?”

Sophie gasped. “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean,” Patrick said furiously, “Braddon told me that you talked him into eloping because you were madly in love with him. It was just your bad luck that I came up that ladder when you were waiting for Braddon … in your bedchamber!”

Rage surged up Sophie’s back. “You! You dare to imply that I seduced you? You! A man everyone knows is a lothario! The kind of man,” she added scathingly, “who seduces his best friend’s bride. You may not imply that I was planning to seduce Braddon. I had decided to cry off from my engagement—and you know it! You waited long enough before letting me know who you were.”

“No lady invites a gentleman into her chamber unless she wants him to know of her availability. You sure as hell didn’t fight me off when I came over to the bed!”

The back of Sophie’s throat was burning. “I did,” she said, caught between the urge to scream and the urge to cry. “I did push you away, until you took your hood off.”

“Are you trying to tell me that you only succumbed because it was me in those robes? That’s a bit of a tall order!”

“It’s the truth.”

“So you think I will believe that you married me for love?” Patrick sneered as he moved toward her, his feet silent on the wooden floor. “Let me see, you were so desperately in love with me that you turned down my proposal and begged another man to elope with you.”

“I didn’t say that!”

Patrick raised one mocking eyebrow. “Didn’t say what?”

“I didn’t say I married you for love,” Sophie spat.

Patrick was within a handspan of his wife now, close enough to see the teary glimmer in her eyes. The sight made his anger abruptly disappear.

“So you married me for lust.” His tone was milder now. “Well, we were caught in the same trap, weren’t we?”